Addiction to fossil fuels claws deep in many markets – UNEP

A UN officer said no one is safe in effects of nations clinging to fossil fuels.

A recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) showed that nations are in danger as markets continue to get addicted to fossil fuels.

“Climate change has battered the world’s most vulnerable for years. Now, wealthier nations and communities find themselves taking hits as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and storms grow,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.

“The whole world is clinging to the handrails on a boat lurching through increasingly turbulent seas,” she added.

There are nations that are considering limiting global temperature rise through the Paris Agreement, governments said they understand this. 

However, the report showed “the addiction to fossil fuels still has its claws deep in many nations.”

Governments are planning to produce, and the world is planning to consume, over double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than is consistent with the pathway to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, read the report.

Andersen further pointed out that “powering economies with clean and efficient energy is the only way to end energy poverty and bring down emissions at the same time.” 

“Starting at COP28, nations must unite behind a managed and equitable phase-out of coal, oil and gas — to ease the turbulence ahead and benefit every person on this planet,” she said.